A Good Start

17 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in Crazy Love, love, sin

Wednesday was the kick-off day for our workplace Bible study using the book Crazy Love. Yes, you know I love Crazy Love and I’m excited to begin a study around the ideas offered by Francis Chan in this book. The first class was an introduction of the book idea, my approach to getting through it and to me. Several of the people in the study know something about me but I went back deeper in my history than usual and walked them through my growing up and how I got to this point in life and why this book has helped me know God so much better than I think I would have done on my own. I got some positive feedback from a few of the participants and am thankful my prayer all morning worked – simply that God would make me a conduit of the words He wanted everyone to hear.

Wvar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
Here’s something that crossed my mind the other day. Who’s more concerned with sin; God or me? Who’s more concerned with living out of love; God or me? I think God is more interested in seeing me live a life of love than He is concerned with me sinning. I’m caught up in 1 John 4 saying that “perfect love drives out fear.” I can’t get this verse out of my head because I want to live in God’s perfect love and I want to be a man who shares God’s perfect love with everyone I come in contact with. I’m not there yet but pray that I will be one day.

Wvar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}
Grace and peace to you.
Wvar gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}

What I Hear

25 Tuesday Jan 2011

Posted by Seeking Peace in abundance, love, overflow, sin, Son

≈ Leave a comment

It’s part odd, part funny sometimes to say something and people hear something different. I look back on a life of hearing what so many people have said and wonder now if I heard what they said or heard something else. Here’s an example. I’ve been going to church all my life, going to Bible classes, listening to sermons and what I have heard most of my life was more about how I needed to avoid sin instead of how I need to love God and be obsessed with living for Him. I wonder if I just heard it all wrong. Regardless, I am finally coming to understand that an obsession with trying to live right kept me focused on my weakness but and obsession with being close to God, soaking up the fact that I am living in His presence, is keeping me focused on His power. It seems like such a small thing in words but in my life it is making a very big difference.

In the old days, when I sinned, I beat myself up and slowly began to convince myself I was just a sinner and would never be more. These days, when I sin, I realize I have only pulled myself away from the Father, I’ve only cheated myself out of being in His presence but it is not who I am, just something I did. Who I am is His son, His loved child who He still desires to be in His presence, soaking up His abundant love.

For years I lived focus on my need for His grace and mercy. While I do need that, God is love and that is what I want to be caught up in because I have found that by living in His love, He gives me all that flows from that (grace, mercy, compassion, etc.) and I am drawn closer to Him and live in the growing understanding that being made in His image means that I too can overflow in love.

My cup overflows when I live in His love.

Grace and peace to you.